Should she win in the May 9 polls, presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe vowed to ease the traffic in one year.

"I will guarantee to you that if I become president, I think we can help ease the traffic at least within a year," Poe told students of San Beda College during CNN Philippines' Town Hall on Thursday (January 28).

The senator enumerated a few suggestions that would help address the problem of traffic congestion.

"Just add the necessary number of trains. Start finishing the lines that are already supposed to be done. Enforcing the rules, making sure that there's a proper drop-off for provincial buses outside of Metro Manila," she said. "It can ease traffic."

Focus outside Metro Manila as well

Poe explained that other parts of the country also have bad traffic conditions and proposed to establish transport systems in areas outside the metro.

"Let's look beyond Metro Manila... Cebu is also [experiencing] traffic and other places in the country are also [experiencing] traffic," said Poe. "If we are truly going to be a globally competitive country, we should look beyond Metro Manila and start having mass transport systems, rail systems outside Metro Manila."

Poe even suggested building subway systems to reduce the volume of traffic on the road.

"Another thing we can look into also are underground subway systems. I know that people question it, but we need to be able to get the best engineers to design it — they may not be local," she said.

But she cautioned that "we should also be able to have the right partnership with a company that has the track record to do that."

[Translation: The main problem, according to the study of DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways], is that most of our drainage systems are small or are already clogged. Another problem related to flooding is the lack of waterways in our country.]

Escudero pointed out that informal settlers occupy around 3,000 hectares in Metro Manila, and putting up a structure that could house them would lead to more space for roads and drainage systems.